Secular Groups Meet with State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom

August 22, 2012

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining leaders from several prominent secular
organizations—the American Humanist Association, International
Humanist and Ethical Union, Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and
Science, and the Secular Coalition for America—to represent the Center for Inquiry at a meeting with the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom (IRF)
in Washington D.C.

The exchange, hosted by Ambassador-at-Large Suzan Johnson Cook and her
staff, was unique in that it focused solely on the secular community
(atheists, agnostics, humanists, skeptics, freethinkers) and its
perspectives on religious freedom. We presented the IRF with a 40-page
collaborative
report containing information on laws used by governments around the
world to restrict the
rights to freedom of belief and expression, which are protected by the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and
specific cases of governments punishing atheists, religious minorities,
and dissidents for speaking out on religion. One prominent example we
cited was jailed Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan.

We were glad to learn that the IRF firmly believes
religious freedom includes the liberty to reject and express doubts
about religion, and that it is dedicated to advocating for this position
in the global arena. However, we urged the IRF to consider placing
closer attention, especially in their annual reports, on free speech-related discrimination against atheists, religious minorities, and dissidents.

Fortunately, it seems this was just the first of many meetings to come between IRF and representatives of the secular
community. I will keep you updated as we move forward. In the meantime, I encourage you to read about the the IRF and its work, and follow Ambassador Johnson Cook on Facebook and Twitter.